Towbars and Towing Mirrors

hitch stabilisers have to be dry as they have friction pads in the hitch that when the lever is pushed down to the horizontal position the pads grip the ball very tight and help to control a bit of the sway and help stability. mirrors are a personal choice and might be worth trying different combinations at a dealers but they are also a legal requirement. that's the basics but somebody will give more detailed comments.

The balls made to suit the AlKo hitch have a deeper groove on the underside and will accept the other types of hitch. As you have alread twigged, clean and dry is important so if it is removable take good care of it in storage, or if fixed take even better care of it.  A can of spray brake cleaner is a usefull resource.

The Milenco mirrors can be fitted in various ways with the arms below or above the vehicle mirrors, and with the glass horizontal or vertical on its main axis. You will be able to experiment to find the best position to suit your driving position. Remember the legal requirement is to be able to see a particular area alongside and behind your trailer - Milenco supply a diagram. To achieve this does often require the additional mirrors, and they have to be fitted quite far out to achieve the legal view.

The law requires the driver to have a particular view available in terms of construction and use. Whether any given driver uses that view is a different matter of due care and attention.

Yes as per above with lornalou and Nav, check the fittings on the mirrors as some fit better on some cars than others depending on the shape of your car's mirrors

are you having a fixed or detachable towbar?

Also I assume you have asked for full (twin) electrics and the plug(s) on your car will match the plug(s) on your van? ie one 13 pin plug/socket rather than 2 seven pin plugs/socket. If you have already considered this, which I'm sure you have then sorry just ignore. 

I would however see if you can try some mirrors and strongly suggest you consider the convex mirrors in comparison.

The flat mirrors are totally flat and whilst massive give quite small field of vision. I had to change mine to the convex mirror, which give a much better field of vision and are great mirrors!

Also have a look at the pads and your mirror - the V-pads had much better grip for me on the D4.

(I also mount them before hitching up and then give them a little extra tweak just before setting off, just in case the car mirror has yielded slightly) 

Remove any paint on the tow ball using fine wet and dry. Towing mirrors seem to be all down to personal preference. The newer single 13 pin sockets provide much better electrical contacts than the old twin sockets

(I also mount them before hitching up and then give them a little extra tweak just before setting off, just in case the car mirror has yielded slightly)

Just a slight tweak mind. It is possible to crack the clamp, especially when very cold, if you tweak too much.☹️

I'm wary of mirrors that are not flat as to gain the greater field of view they distort the image and can make things seem to be a different distance away than they really are.

A trick with the Milenco mirrors if one has difficulty fitting the brackets is to just leave the brackets in place if taking the mirrors off for a short time. Instead of removing the brackets, slacken the other screw and slide out the rod from the brackets. Remember to tighten the screws back up though if you want to find them still there when refitting the mirrors!

We never take the milenco brackets off the vehicle mirrors and just slide the rods and extension mirrors on and off as req ,I have a mark on the rod and bracket that line up so do not need adjusting each time we  are towing,

I have used Millenco Grand Aero convex mirrors for the last 7 years.  I prefer convex mirrors for their better field of view.  You soon get used to the distorsion, so guageing distances is not really a problem for long especially as you have had a motorhome.  You should find the Millenco Grand Aero convex to be pretty similar to motorhome mirrors.  I was used to minibus and coach mirrors.

If you do go down the flat mirror route however I would add stick on blind spot mirrors as well (not needed with the convex type).

I have the smaller aero mirrors (slightly shaped at one end).  I bought them after reading reviews, but to be honest, I have been disappointed with them.  I have gone back to the Suck-it-and-See mirrors.  These fit to the centre of the existing mirror. 

The main reason I like them is they are much easier to adjust - you just use the electric wing mirror adjusters.  It avoids the problem of 'up a bit, down a bit, to the left, to the right, No back a bit' etc scenario, when trying to get the passenger mirror adjusted while sitting in the drivers seat and getting my wife to do the adjustments!!  The Aero mirrors seem to have a will of their own and tend to spring to different positions when trying to adjust them.

I read once that someone complained that the Suck-it-and-See mirrors put stress on the wing mirror itself, but personally I have not experienced this problem.  I now use my Aero as a 'just in case' back-up.

I'm positive that others feel differently, but this is just my experience with these mirrors.

David